Thousands of lives are in danger in eastern Aleppo, where a worsening humanitarian catastrophe is taking place, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned as fighting continued Tuesday.
"We urge the parties to consider the fate of civilians trapped by the ongoing fighting and do their utmost to spare and protect them. This may be the last chance to save lives," read a statement by the ICRC.
“In order for this to happen, we appeal to the parties to put humanity ahead of military objectives”, said the ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria, Marianne Gasser, who is currently in Aleppo.
Syrian government troops and their allies militias made major advances on Monday, leaving the rebels in control of less than 3 per cent of their enclave in Aleppo.
Opposition leaders and people inside eastern Aleppo fear deadly reprisal by the Syrian government. Unarmed activists and medics in particular are concerned.
"The news out of eastern Aleppo is catastrophic ... people have to be saved or else they will be massacred by the regime and their allies when they reach them," Samir al Nashar, a Syrian opposition figure, who is originally from Aleppo, told dpa.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, said that around 60 people were killed either in regime fire or shelling in the neighbourhood of al-Faradous after government troops took over the area from the rebels on Monday.
Even as the people in eastern Aleppo appealed for international help, some residents of government-held western Aleppo and other parts of Syria were celebrating the apparent defeat of the rebels in the key northern city.
